Antisemitic and Islamaphobic hate crimes up across the capital

Antisemitic hate crimes recorded in May by the Metropolitan Police jumped by 72% month-on-month, while Islamophobic hate crime was up by a third, figures show.

Some 255 antisemitic hate crimes were logged by the force in May, up from 148 in April.

The borough of Barnet saw the highest number of these offences last month, at 76, accounting for 30% of the total, according to Press Association analysis of force data.

Barnet includes the districts of Golders Green, Hendon and Finchley, all of which have large Jewish populations.

Hackney in east London saw 40 antisemitic offences recorded by the force, along with 29 in Westminster, 16 in both Camden and Haringey and 11 in Tower Hamlets.

Overall, 28 of the 32 London boroughs saw at least one antisemitic hate crime logged by the Met last month.

Largest monthly increase in almost three years

An arson attack at a former synagogue in Whitechapel on May 5 was one of a number of recent apparent antisemitic attacks in the capital, while police officers were sent to an area of Tower Hamlets on May 15 after an online video showed a man threatening that “Jews gonna get beheaded”.

The 72% rise in antisemitic hate crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police between April and May is the largest monthly increase since late 2023.

The number soared from 59 in September 2023 to 455 in October, coinciding with the Hamas attacks on Israel and subsequent conflict in Gaza.

The Met Police data published this week also shows that offences classified by the force as Islamophobic hate crimes also rose between April and May of this year, up 33% from 135 to 179 – the highest monthly figure since August 2024.

Such offences had been on a downwards trend at the end of last year and early 2026, before jumping in March – the same month a new agreed UK Government definition of anti-Muslim hostility was published.

At the time, the Government said the definition was “an important step towards combating the unacceptable hostility that Muslims face” adding that past attempts to define such hatred had “fallen short, leaving the concept ambiguous and highly contested”.

Islamaphobia hate crimes up

The borough of Westminster had the highest number of Islamophobic hate crimes recorded by the Met in May, at 21.

That month a “Unite the Kingdom” rally, organised by activist Tommy Robinson, took place in central London, and was later criticised by one of the capital’s deputy mayors for instances of Islamophobia she said were on display at the event.

Some protesters held a demonstration outside Parliament where they called for the “removal of Islam” while Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, re-posted a video of himself saying that, were he to become prime minister, he would “stop Islam”, adding: “It’s time for many Muslims to leave this country.”

Speaking last month, Debbie Weekes-Bernard, London’s deputy mayor for communities and social justice, said such rhetoric was “not the London” she knows.

“We know that there was a lot of Islamophobia on display and that is not something we stand for here,” she said. Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.